First African American woman Senator: Kamala's attack on Biden "sad"

[Curky]

“We can be proud of her nonetheless, but her ambition got it wrong about Joe,” said former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, the first African American woman to serve in the Senate who has endorsed Biden in the 2020 primary. “He is about the best there is; for her to take that tack is sad.”


https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/30/kamala-harris-joe-biden-2020-1391212

[murielm99]

1. I wondered when she was going to say something.

[olegramps]

16. She was able to get elected as a senator. Seems to me we have come a long way.

Yes, we have a lot of work yet ahead, especially in regard to many Republicans but we should recognize that many have matured and have denounced hatred.

[SCVDem]

34. I live in So. Cal.

Most of us did not know or care about her race

I personally thought she, like the Obama's had a tan to die for.

Why do white people devote so much time to get brown if it's not beautiful.

Apologies to our red hair, fair complexion friends.

[cwydro]

66. "The Obamas had a tan to die for..."

Wth?

[Lordquinton]

105. That's a yikes for sure

perhaps even a double yikes.

[Vegas Roller]

2. Kamala made a horrible mistake

in taking that cheap shot. The bitterness of the unfairness of mischaracterizing Biden will last long after the joy of temporary attention will be gone.

[Funtatlaguy]

3. Might have cost her the Veep/or won her the nomination.

We shall see.

[colorado_ufo]

18. She decided to go for broke.

She did not want to settle for VP, and Joe was too much of a front runner. This was a big mistake. If she had taken the VP slot, Joe might have settled for one term as president and then she is young enough to easily be a two term; she would have had national exposure, experience of national government and international matters, and she could have been a shoo-in for president.

[True Blue American]

23. I actually hoped that would happen.

One term for Joe, 2 for the VP. It is going to take that long to clean up the Trump mexs and pay off the Trump/ Bush bills.

[LakeArenal]

26. Why would Joe become a lame duck?

Forget that. Harris snarkily said she would not be Joe’s VP.

We don’t need her for CA.

She’d be a good attorney general.

[SCVDem]

37. Mayor Pete as VP?

Like Bush picked a potatoe (?)

This is not knew except Pete is better than Quale.

[LakeArenal]

44. Yes yes. Love Pete most. But also not primary candidates

Stacey Abrams, Al Franken, Katie Porter, Adam Schiff, Juan Castro, Joe Kennedy.

Those are just ones I like. There are a zillion more.

[AlexSFCA]

77. I adore both Biden and Harris;

biden understands politics well, harris is prepping him and warning him to get serious. The future of western civilization is at stake, far beyond just USA.

[LakeArenal]

81. ???? Why not Pete VP? You want him as Pres but not VP?🤷🏼‍♀️

[AlexSFCA]

85. right now I still support Pete in the primary

while watching the developments. I’m afraid police shooting incident was too damaging to him. He’s been traveling around the country advertising his police body cameras and they weren’t even implemented when needed most. Not a good look. I also like Biden, Harris and Warren, perhaps equally. I can easily get behind any of the above. Not thrilled with the rest at all.

[sop]

4. She let ambition get the best of her

Going after Joe was a cheap shot. In the end, it says more about her than it does about Biden.

[Kahuna7]

5. Exactly. Playing the race card is never a good look. Obama knew to not do it.

She specifically interjected: 'I want to talk about race now,' to make sure she got her planned and rehearsed attack in.

[SunsetDreams2]

6. Look, I like both Biden and Harris

To say that she interjected saying I want to talk about race now as if it wasn’t already being discussed is not accurate. She had every right to weigh in on the topic as did any of the candidates up there. That’s not playing the race card, nor was talking about how his comments regarding working with segregationist made her feel and/or talking about his lack of support for federally mandated busing.

[Kahuna7]

7. You're entitled to your opinion. I don't agree. So there.

[LakeArenal]

28. You are entitled to your undecided opinion.

I don’t agree.

[3Hotdogs]

40. It would have been fine if she talked about the happy kid riding the school bus.. and that happy kid

was me.

Then, she could have gone on to express her view that she will work to assure civil rights and stuff.

Instead, she used the platform to shank Joe.

Fuck her.

General, yes. Primary, no.

[SunsetDreams2]

50. Every candidate

Has to answer for their record. I look at it this way, at least it’s out there now, the repubs will throw the kitchen sink at whoever gets the nomination. I think Harris handled it fine, and Joe Biden, I would like to think, is strong enough to handle whatever comes his way. I was disappointed in how he handled the debate, but I don’t think it’s something he can’t recover from.

[emmaverybo]

46. She jumped in saying she, as one of the two black candidates, should take the question. That was als

a planned move with a through line to the whole performance.

[SunsetDreams2]

51. She prepared, that should be

A good thing. She has a right to speak on the topic just as anyone else did up there.

[sop]

52. Harris dredged up an issue that had been forgotten for many decades at the national level

She only did it to put Biden on the spot and make him explain, in 30 seconds, a Senate vote he cast years before on court-mandated school busing, a very complicated and controversial issue back then. She also included a personal story about her own busing experience as a girl, claiming it was the reason for her success today.

If Harris still feels so strongly about school desegregation and improving educational quality, problems that persist today in most urban areas, she should have announced her own plan for a court-mandated school busing program once elected. If she supported forced busing then, and it worked so well for her and other kids, why not pledge to bring it back in 2021?

But, we all know had she done that, the media headlines the next day would have been "Kamala Harris wants to forcibly bus white kids to failing inner city schools!" Her poll numbers would have tanked instead of Biden's, as was her plan.

[AtheistCrusader]

100. So... what do we expect Trump to do? NOT dredge shit up?

Just because Trump is a spectacular racist, doesn't mean he won't take a shot like that in the General, if nothing else, to squelch the signal-to-noise on his own racism. 'See, see, he did a thing too!'.

The general is going to be a shitshow. Biden ought to be able to gracefully explain, in 30 seconds, a past vote on a major issue, and it should be accurate.

What the blue fuck is a primary even for if we're NOT going to test our candidates to the limit? Whoever wins the primary has to go up against a destructive, racist, sleazebag, road rage simian who will pull no punches and will dredge up every scrap of the past, take everything out of context, AND MAKE SHIT UP. And APPARENTLY, he represents about half the voting public, in some way or another.

Not a one of our candidates has yet proven he or she can take on Trump, and his paid underlings, and external trolls, and all that shit, and come out the other end a winner yet. None of them.


Hell, dealing with an issue like this in the primary is a way of de-fusing the issue entirely as 'out of context old news'. The Public's attention span works that way, you know. 'Oh, we've seen this before, and it's a non-issue', instead of 'wow that's a really damaging bit of info I've never heard before'. A primary isn't just a winnowing process, it's an opportunity to slay some old skeletons in the closet.

The general public doesn't look at Biden/et al, like we do, and doesn't necessarily give the benefit of the doubt. This will not be an easy election. Nothing is certain right now. If you think it's in the bag, well, you're wrong.

[Chitown Kev]

86. Everyone else was playng "the race card" at the time

since the question being asked was about the South Bend police shooting situation...and Marianne Williamson haad just finished answering the question and "playing her race card"...GTFO...

..as far as Obama is concerned, now you're going under the Obama shield...Obama didn't do it so no one should?

[EffieBlack]

91. She's black, so by definition, when discussing race, she played the race card

[Chitown Kev]

92. That seems to be an accurate translation

it's the only translation that I've ever known, in any event.

[Kahuna7]

97. Get over yourself. Obama didn't use it because it wasn't a wise thing to do...

Don't forget, once the nominee is decided, there's a general election campaign to run.

[EffieBlack]

98. Bull

12 years ago, the first black major contender for the presidency had to stay as far away from race as possible and whenever he did speak of it, he was slimed for “playing the race card” even by some Democrats, just like Harris is now.

White candidates talk about race to their heart’s content and not only aren’t they EVER accused of “playing the race card,” they’re lionized as the wokest people on earth and any black person who dares to suggest that they might not be 100 percent correct is accused of attacking and driving away allies and, of course, playing that damned card.

In this instance, Harris entered a discussion about race that was already underway. But because she didn’t stay within the parameters determined by some white people (who seem to think it’s their exclusive right to set the terms and boundaries and content of any such discussion), SHE was out of line.

And the idea that anyone would tell a black woman that, unless she models her behavior and words on those of a black man who came before her is outrageous. Think about what you’re saying.

Barack Obama never bragged about working with segregationists. In fact, no white president in recent history did it, either. Does that mean Biden was out of line when he did so because, after Obama or assume that the fact Obama never did it was proof that it’s never a wise thing to do? Of course not. Because people don’t put those kinds of restrictions on white male candidates. That “why can’t you be more like the person of your race who came before you?” standard is only being applied to Harris. Biden gets to be a free agent who can do and say what he wants and if anyone questions him, THEY are the problem.

I call bullshit.

[Kahuna7]

99. You call bull all you want. I'm talking about politics where

perception is reality. Obama knows that and knows to avoid those traps.

I guarantee you, playing the race card will come back to bite her and maybe the entire party. In case you didn't realize it, the race card was played to great effectiveness in 2016. It was stealth, but it was still played. It was played when the Russians, trump and the gop used BLM to suppress the black vote (super predators), while motivating white voters who were convinced to fear the emerging BLM menace (which didn't even exist).

In this cycle, maybe instead of BLM, busing will be used as the emerging black menace, aka BLM. Was BLM really a menace? Of course they weren't. But enough voters believed they were to turn out to vote against them. Perception. Reality.

I don't have to think about what I'm saying. I've been around the block and as I said, in politics, perception equals reality. How do I know that? Because I've been watching politics for more than 50 years.

on edit: Joe Biden no more deserved to be smeared on his anti busing or working with segregationists (didn't praise them, that's a lie) than Hillary deserved to be smeared for the term, "super predators."

[SunsetDreams2]

8. Ok..

That’s her opinion, there will be some who agree with her and others who don’t.

[mfcorey1]

9. I totally agree. Sometimes people evolve. Joe was not the only one during a period

of segregation to call out against forced busing. Some African Americans did not want their children taken away from their home schools, even though they needed desperate upgrades. Many are sad today that those schools were abandoned and never restored, turned into community centers, and other things.

I feel Harris just gave the rethuglicans more fire for their corrupt campaigning. I will vote blue no matter who, but right now Harris is not at the top of my pole. I am finding that a lot of people feel the same way.

[KPN]

102. Come on. The Rs already have everything on Biden. This is/was easily

accessible information available to anyone just by doing a bit of googling. It's Joe Biden's public history. Harris didn't give the Repugnants anything.

[ucrdem]

10. It was sad, and it was uncivil.

It was also a hair, shall we say, fanciful. They (team Harris) weren't expecting Joe to point that the Berkeley busing program she'd benefited from as a child was voluntary, and when he did, it rattled her. But by that time she'd given her little girl speech and that was all she needed.

[emmaverybo]

47. Exactly. NT

[onetexan]

76. Kamala needs to be apologizing to Joe for the manufactured outrage she put on at the national stage

not the other way around, as she purported. Her stunt was clearly opportunistic and disgraceful. If she keeps this up it's best Joe pick another candidate for VEEP.

[KPN]

103. Huh? How did it being voluntary change anything. It was voluntary in many places, but it

at least existed in those places; as opposed to the many places it did not exist. That's trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill.

[Rene]

11. She's unqualified to be President after attack on Biden

[Celerity]

20. .,.

[KPN]

104. Well said. nt

[Loki Liesmith]

38. That's silly

[LiberalLovinLug]

39. She PROVED she was quailifed with that response to Joe

It showed me she is a person who is not afraid of speaking truth to power. Not afraid of not following a safe, kumbaya, head down campaign. Not afraid to be bold and expose uncomfortable truths, even about her Democratic contenders.

This all bodes well for a new type of Democratic President. It gives me faith that if she got in, she'd take no quarter from anyone. She'd be a formidable opponent for Trump in debates, and as a President she'd usher in a new more diligent honest but fierce brand of Democratic leadership.

I hope like hell the party stalwarts don't pressure her to apologize for it. Why should she when Biden has yet to apologize for the actual statements he made about not being called called "boy" by the two racist Senators. And when Booker asked for one too, he retorts with "I think Booker should apologize!".

He's never made a proper apology to Anita Hill as well, according to her

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/04/anita-hill-eviscerates-bidens-apology-in-scathing-interview

Something ultimately flawed with a candidate that can't just make a simple, but sincere, apology for some past mistake (and we all make mistakes), and move on. For two reasons. They can't or refuse to see what all the fuss is about, and/or they fail to understand the political ramifications of not doing so. Not something I look for in a leader

[SMC22307]

71. ...

[StarfishSaver]

12. Well, I guess that settles it

after all, if a black woman criticizes Kamala Harris, then, by definition, Harris was wrong.

But, wait a minute. Here's a white senator saying Kamala Harris' criticism was "exactly on-point" and that "for Biden to blatantly lie about his record is embarrassing."

Link to tweet

So does Gravel cancel out Moseley-Braun - or does the "criticism from someone of their own race and gender is proof that they were wrong" standard only apply to certain people?

[zonkers]

13. Boom. This sheepish thread gives me the creeps.

[LovingA2andMI]

59. Yea...It's Getting REAL OLD....

As Biden is dropping in the polls, it will probably get worse. DU might need to consider new moderation tactics for this sub-forum.

[crazytown]

64. All the Low Nos piling in.

[SunsetDreams2]

15. +1000

[Skya Rhen]

17. Rep. John Garamendi from Harris' home state of California disapproves of her performance, as well.

So, this cancels out Mike Gravel (who is not making any traction as a Democratic Presidential candidate). Am not surprised that he would try to chime in, somehow, as he never qualified for the first debates...


https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287177410

[ucrdem]

19. Garramendi was pretty direct.

He didn't like it one bit. And yeah Gravel is running a vanity campaign so one would expect him to grab every headline he can.

[Cha]

42. Thank you for that, Skya!

[Cha]

90. I take to heart what Rep Garamendi has to

say about the debate over Mike Gavel, in last place, anytime.

Thanks for the link!

[LakeArenal]

30. That's why it's not good to accuse people of sexism everytime people don't agree with a woman.

[oasis]

31. Mike Gravel is also a contender for the nomination. Of course

he's going to join the pile on of the guy in the top spot.

[StarfishSaver]

32. Lol

[oasis]

36. Lol? Maybe Gravel will weigh in on the issue at the next debate.

[Cha]

94. yeah, maybe Gravel will have something

to add to his tweet about "Biden telling a lie".. I would be most interested in that

It's sounds to me like Gravel is the one who needs to get his story straight.

Thank You, oasis!

[JI7]

73. Gravel is not a serious candidate and hates Biden and Buttigieg

he says Buttigieg only talks about being gay all the time and his support is all gay.

[oasis]

75. I already knew Gravel was a lightweight. Another poster

thought he was worth inserting into the discussion.

[StarfishSaver]

80. It made as much sense as inserting Carol Moseley Braun into the conversation

[Blue_true]

55. The issue that I have had with Biden on his busing stance.

Is he showed a lack of political courage defined by moral clearity. Other politicians that were in a much more difficult position went against popular opinion and forcefully implemented integration of all public schools within their jurisdiction. I have mentioned the great democratic Governor of Florida, Reuben Askew as being at the very tip of how political courage anchored in a clear sense of what was morally right looked like.

Do I think Joe Biden is a good person? Of course I do. Do I worry about what decision he may make if faced with a difficult decision that would have to go against popular public opinion? Yes, his history has shown me that concern is a valid one.

[Duppers]

14. CNN: Black lawmakerS defend Biden ...

"Black lawmakers defend Biden after his comments on working with segregationists"


https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/20/politics/congressional-black-caucus-joe-biden/index.html

[SidDithers]

21. Politico has gone all-in on Uncle Joe...nt

Sid

[flamingdem]

22. Love her honesty

[watoos]

24. Kamala Harris ate Joe's lunch at the debate.

Joe did a poor job overall. His speech was disjointed. If he is our nominee he better not tell Trump, "my time is up."

What about Bennet eating Joe's lunch? Where are the hit jobs on Bennet? Bennet hit Joe on Biden extending the Bush tax cuts, he hit Biden for giving us the Sequester. If Joe thinks he can just ride Obama's coattails to the nomination he has another thing coming.

I hear a lot of people coming to Biden's defense over his poor debate performance, Biden should have been able to defend himself during the debate.

I like Joe, I voted for him in the 2008 primary, but he needs to pick up his game.

[stopbush]

35. This

[emmaverybo]

48. I think it fair to criticize his debate performance, but not his response to Harris's manipulative

and misleading surprise attack, or to absolve her of the claim that she made a cheap shot, motivated not in the service of a cause, but in service to her own ambition.

[Voltaire2]

107. um, that was 'his debate performance'.

But ok, lets just delete all the parts of the debate where he bombed, and then criticize the rest. Yeah, that makes sense.

And how dare that woman do that, amirite?

[tishaLA]

25. Weird to see a woman's "ambition" criticized in this century

[Tarc]

27. Biden's going for the "find one person of color that agrees with me" playbook, I see

That is what is "sad" here.

[True Dough]

29. I read the article and this is what stood out:

Last edited Mon Jul 1, 2019, 04:21 PM - Edit history (1)

Biden, in comments to supporters this weekend, appeared to acknowledge the possibility that his quest may not end in success — an unusual departure from the script of most presidential candidates who confidently toss off phrases like “as your next president.”

Joe seems to be aware that he's lost a step. He's surrounded by hungry young lions now. He's done great things for America but he's apparently coming to the realization that a new generation of leadership is going to overtake him.

[Skya Rhen]

45. That's just Joe being the self-deprecating, humble, decent person that so many people love.

Nothing further can be drawn from that comment. As he said, he is still holding on to that torch...

[stopbush]

33. No matter how many dozen anti-Harris threads get started on DU,

the facts remain that 95% of the complaints are coming from Biden supporters - with a significant subset coming from the same people over and over - and that Joe wouldn’t find himself on the defensive had he prepared better for the debate.

Harris this week, someone else next week...and the week after. The Biden supporters have no problem blaming others for Joe’s problems.

[emmaverybo]

49. And that support reflects the electorate at large. NT

[Thekaspervote]

84. When someone prepares for months for a gotcha moment- if he says this I'll say that etc

It isn’t about not being prepared. He took the high road and did not attack her back, in fact he later defended her against attacks about her heritage.

You are certainly entitled to your opinion about a small number of members posting the same complaints about Harris. I look at several other sites and don’t see that. Biden has a very broad base of support. And, most of the comments I see aren’t complaints or “attacks” but rather facts, quotes or just their concern about her ability to win in the general. That’s pretty fair.

[Cha]

89. So What? I never said one negative word about

Harris before the debate.. and now I think it's fair enough to have her history looked at since she opened the door so widely to the "past".

She said she didn't think Biden was a "racist" and "Voters don't want a food fight.." right before she threw a metaphorical "plate full of Spaghetti at him".

So it's okay for her to food fight but not for anyone else.

[stopbush]

95. Time to bring up Anita Hill.

[Cha]

96. Go for it.

[Kind of Blue]

93. +1000!

to what you said.

[delisen]

41. Joseph Biden can defend himself. We're facing neo-Nazis,

renewed assaults on freedom and liberty, concentrations camps on our border, rapidly rising oceans, impoverishment, massive scapegoating and a powerful anti-democracy party supported by an authoritarian hostile government that interferes with our elections and spreads anti-democracy propaganda throughout our media and social institutions.

Joe Biden will be fine. It is the rest of us I am worried about.

Anyone who thinks getting along with the the opposition and waiting to win an election 18 months from now so we can reach out to the other side is just not thinking things through.

Biden can be working with the other side right now by urging what decent reps there are in the Republican Party to switch to our party now.

The rest of us have to start fighting.

[Cha]

43. Carol Moseley Braun respects Joe Biden.. she

is standing up for her friend. It's what we all do.

[highplainsdem]

53. K&R. +1,000,000,000

[Hoyt]

54. Been waiting for Lewis and Clyburn to say something. In meantime, here's what Jesse Jackson

said:

". . . . . .Jackson was less forgiving of former Vice President Joe Biden, who joined Jackson at a convention event on Friday. Speaking about Biden’s record on busing — which has become a flashpoint after Sen. Kamala Harris of California confronted him at the debate — Jackson said that Harris “established Biden on the states’ rights side of history,” which “cannot stand the test of time.” He framed Biden’s opposition to federally mandated busing as part of a larger debate over the federal government’s trying to create racial equality.

"“He’s for voluntary busing, I’m for court-ordered busing — well, everyone’s for voluntary busing,” Jackson said. “[T]he federal government had to order the abolition of slavery, the federal government had to order the right to vote, they had to order the desegregation of schools and jobs and contracts. So ‘voluntary’ assumes that those who are oppressive have some will to move based on moral values, and that does not happen.”

"Jackson added that Biden had done “a lot of good things.”" . . . . . .

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/30/jesse-jackson-2020-democratic-party-1391027

[Blue_true]

56. Jesse Jackson distilled it down to a person acting on moral values.

Look the religious right claims morality, but they are the most immoral people that I have seen in my lifetime. Morality is having your actions reflect what your heart tells you is right. Busing to integrate schools and undue the effects of busing to maintain segregation was the only option of that period, magnet schools came some time later on as an offshoot of what Sourthern districts like mine did with building new schools. At that time Joe Biden either opposed integration of schools, or he lacked the moral courage to follow what his heart said was the right thing to do, use the only tool to reverse the effects of purposeful segregation of schools.

[Hoyt]

57. +1. Localities weren't ordered to bus unless they were dragging their feet desegregating and

ensuring equal educational opportunities.

[LovingA2andMI]

58. She's Sad....

Next....

[Celerity]

63. outrageous..... you just accused Senator Harris of being on the Russian take

that is beyond the bloody pale!

[Celerity]

70. I someone said the exact same thing about Gabbard as the removed poster did about Harris

I doubt the post would stand. I would say the exact same thing to a them I did to this one. They both are Democratic Party elected members of Congress.

[cwydro]

65. Wow.

Wtf?

[crazytown]

62. Low. No. Hit.

[olegramps]

67. This is what I feared would happen. The infamous circular firing squad.

If Harris should win the nomination I would venture that she will put Trump in the White House. The Republicans are unified. This could fracture the vote of the Democrats. Moore saw this happening in the last election with the entry of Sanders in which Clinton was caught in a cross fire where they were the protectors of labor and she even had to withdraw her support the TPP and as he predicted Trump won.

[Thekaspervote]

83. Sad... but I agree

[Tarheel_Dem]

69. I agree with Moseley Braun.

[WoonTars]

72. I live in Illinois... she was a DREADFUL Senator...

...i would run the other way if she was threatening to endorse me...

[StarfishSaver]

74. How odd no one gave two hoots about what Moseley-Braun thought about anything until

this week. But now, her opinion is gospel.

I wonder how often she'll be cited in the future on topics other than her opinion about black female senators.

[Chitown Kev]

87. Oh, let's not throw shade at CMB

I mean, I could...and I might have to if she persists down this path...but for now, I won't

(she wasn't the greatest mayorial candidate either)

[bobbieinok]

78. Carol Mosely-Brown was the first female African American US senator

She was elected from Illinois in the 1st national election after the Anita Hill hearing.

[StarfishSaver]

82. And?

[StarfishSaver]

88. No shade from me

Just wondering why all of a sudden her opinion is being treated as not just relevant, but highly relevant considering her views about anything other than the black female senator have neither been sought out nor given any attention in recent memory.

[njhoneybadger]

79. The bottom line is Joe can win the swing states. Kamala can not.

I have to question her judgement to attack Joe and burn that bridge so early.

[beachbum bob]

101. all harris, sanders and warren can do is attack Biden, he is the frontrunner

He has 40 years of senator and VP record and you can nitpick that to death. In the end, he will be our nominee....and making it clear that Harris will end up being his VP as a way to "heal" whatever damage she and the others will inflict on Joe is fully mended by Nov 2020

[Galraedia]

106. Biden/Bernie 2020!

Because why the hell not? With the way Trump is sucking the life out of everyone in this country Biden and Bernie may have only 4 to 8 years left.